How many of y'all have noticed that the "Best of 2015" is now open for submissions and will remain so all year long? Whenever you get a worthy image, load it up! If you get a better one next week, replace it! Keep this up all year, you'll have a lot of fun and you'll (theoretically) have already done your pruning for the year :-) Oh, Bliss!

I'm in, and I'm not even the first... Always a bridesmaid, that's me...

I doubt I'll be in any time soon, but I like it. This will save me from the last minute rush I let myself get into every year. I left best of 2014 until the last minute and didn't even manage to look through all my photos. The result - I'm currently sitting with a score of 4.75.

question though, as this is open to members...
what happens if someone is a member, enters, then does not continue being a paid member. does their entry get pulled? if so when? Immediately? when rollover happens to Start the challenge? does it stay in? if it gets pulled immediately and the person re-ups, will their entry be put back auto-magically?

given this is a new venture, bugs have not been encountered yet, but will likely arise - better to plan for them and try to fix in advance...

question though, as this is open to members...
what happens if someone is a member, enters, then does not continue being a paid member. does their entry get pulled? if so when? Immediately? when rollover happens to Start the challenge? does it stay in? if it gets pulled immediately and the person re-ups, will their entry be put back auto-magically?

given this is a new venture, bugs have not been encountered yet, but will likely arise - better to plan for them and try to fix in advance...

probably stays, i think i was entered in a challenge once, and then my membership expired and i was still entered.

Since my first "best of" here, I've kept a folder of possibles on my hard drive. The possibles don't all get in there, but it does give me a starting pool as well as an idea as to where to start the culling. I like this, though. Trick for some will be to remember not to delete the original - and to remember to remove the entry should something disastrous in the nature of a hard drive crash destroy one.

Not sure I really like this idea
Do you really want to look at this announcement for the next 12 months?
Do you really want people who join the site early in the year, then disappear never to be seen again, yet still be part of this challenge?

Not sure what problem this is trying to solve. Do we really think it is hard to look through your hard drive and find a photo in January and then enter it?

Since my first "best of" here, I've kept a folder of possibles on my hard drive. The possibles don't all get in there, but it does give me a starting pool as well as an idea as to where to start the culling. I like this, though. Trick for some will be to remember not to delete the original - and to remember to remove the entry should something disastrous in the nature of a hard drive crash destroy one.

in this case, the option to pre-emptively upload an original with editing steps should be a given.

... the option to pre-emptively upload an original with editing steps should be a given.

You can do this on any challenge -- after you upload your entry, there is a link in the left column to upload your original/editing notes. It's most commonly used for people who plan to be traveling, but AFAIK there's nothing to stop you from doing it any time ...

Not every change has to be a "problem-solver". We have always kept the best-of-month challenges open for the whole month, not just the last week of the month. We thought it would be good to see how people respond to best-of-year being open all year. If it ends up being a problem in any way, I'm sure we'll change it back :-)

This new plan has made something clear to me that I'd missed before. The "Best of" challenge is actually the "2nd Best of" ...or for that matter if someone enters their 12 bast shots of the year in consecutive Free Studies, it could be the "13th Best of" Challenge. Just sayin...

you should put up an expert to run side by side with it and a minimal as well or just made it expert to be all encompassing.

+42

Originally posted by Mike:

This new plan has made something clear to me that I'd missed before. The "Best of" challenge is actually the "2nd Best of" ...or for that matter if someone enters their 12 bast shots of the year in consecutive Free Studies, it could be the "13th Best of" Challenge. Just sayin...

Two birds with one stone. By making it Expert Editing, you can enter something that wasn't eligible for a Monthly Free Study since those are always Advanced Editing. And to rehash what as I brought up about the Best of 2014 challenge. A truly Best of .. would remove as many restrictions as possible.

Not every change has to be a "problem-solver". We have always kept the best-of-month challenges open for the whole month, not just the last week of the month. We thought it would be good to see how people respond to best-of-year being open all year. If it ends up being a problem in any way, I'm sure we'll change it back :-)

I think it is a neat idea, and I am wondering if there will be more entries because of this approach. I have to agree with bobnospum's point about looking at the same challenge for a whole year, but if we get a significant increase in entries, I would say it is worth it.